


A Mess Of Magic

by Eustacia Vye (eustaciavye)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Spells & Enchantments
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-12-22
Updated: 2011-12-22
Packaged: 2017-10-27 17:53:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/298458
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eustaciavye/pseuds/Eustacia%20Vye
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ginny Weasley worked in security for an exclusive shop. Following a robbery, an unknown combination of spells leaves her mind in someone else's body.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Mess Of Magic

Eventide Gems was an exclusive shop in the Wizarding district of Edinburgh. Ginny Weasley was one of the security wizards hired to help protect the shop; she was in charge of making sure that all the security spells were active and that no one brought in any grossly magicked items. There were others in the store to handle physical security and to be sure that none of the items in the store were stolen. They each had their specific roles to play, and it worked well.

Of course, it never occurred to Ginny to think that the _owner_ might want the shop to fail.

After several months of steady and successful business, it was inevitable that Eventide Gems would be victim to a robbery. The security team did everything the way that they were supposed to, and it rather resembled the drills that they had done. The security team got the thieves collected and the patrons were kept safe.

And then came a second wave from the back of the shop that took them all by surprise.

Security personnel and patron alike were stunned, cursed or otherwise hexed by various combinations of spells in a rapid flurry of magic. Ginny was hit with at least three or four different spells before she fell into a heap over someone else. All she felt was tingling and pain, pressure in her chest and the feeling of a bony elbow digging into her back.

Then blessedly, she passed out.

***

Ginny came to in a bed of soft silk sheets of a deep emerald green. She tried to maneuver out of the unfamiliar bed, but her limbs weren't obeying her properly. They felt longer and ungainly, as if they didn't belong to her. Instead of rolling to her feet and throwing off the sheets, she landed in a sprawled tangle on the floor, the breath knocked out of her.

It took a moment for everything to register, but the hand in front of her face was not her own. The fingers were pale and slender, the fingernails carefully buffed and manicured. There were fine blond hairs on the knuckles, and the shape of the hand was much more masculine than her own was. What in Merlin's name?

She hauled herself to her feet and looked around the room. It was a bedroom, with massive furniture that was quite obviously expensive and well cared for. She headed straight to the mirror over the dresser and looked into it, grasping the edge of the dresser to keep herself upright. She was dizzy, but it was simple lightheadedness from moving so quickly in an unfamiliar place. She could push that aside easily, staring at the pale face in the mirror that was not hers.

The face in the mirror belonged to Draco Malfoy.

***

Draco lived with Pansy in a two bedroom flat, and Ginny was thankful that they didn't seem to be an item. Pansy was bleary eyed in the kitchen, getting a pot of coffee warmed up. "Thank Merlin you're up," she grumbled. Pansy appeared half asleep in her pyjamas, and didn't seem overly concerned by the way Ginny staggered into the room and nearly crashed into the door frame or walls. "Your Mum will have a fit if you don't let her know you're all right. Her Healer had an awful time getting you back here after that attack at the shop yesterday."

With a groan, Ginny sank down into a chair in the kitchen. "I'm dizzy, but I feel all right. I should do errands..."

Pansy rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I'm not your keeper. I'll be over at Leanne's tonight anyway." She smirked at Draco. "Don't wait up."

After finishing her coffee, Pansy sauntered out of the kitchen to head to her bedroom. Ginny sighed and guzzled the coffee. It was much better quality than the usual swill she drank at work, so with the second cup she actually slowed down to savor it. The Prophet was on the table, discarded after Pansy finished it. The main story was about the robbery; apparently the shop owner was now in custody and awaiting transport to Azkaban. The security team had all been injured by multiple hexes, as well as several bystanders. Most had been taken to St. Mungo's.

Ginny headed to Draco's room and got dressed as quickly as possible. She had to get to St. Mungo's and find out how to reverse this spell damage.

***

St. Mungo's was busy, and the volunteer at the desk was only too happy to help Ginny find her body. Well, the volunteer wanted to help _Draco,_ given that the Malfoy family donated hundreds of thousands of Galleons annually to the hospital. It was odd to ask for herself in the third person, but no one knew about the mind swap.

Ginny saw her body lying in bed asleep, and she could instantly tell it was the sleep of the drugged. She turned to the volunteer in alarm. "She was a little agitated earlier," the volunteer told her helpfully. "Her doctors had to calm her. Perhaps you can come back later today."

She left and tried to Apparate to her flat, but her wards rejected her. Ginny stared at her front door in shock, not sure if she could believe what she was seeing. "Oh, come on! It's _me!"_ she shouted at her door.

That didn't change a thing, and the shouting only made her feel that much more frustrated.

There wasn't much for Ginny to do but head back to St. Mungo's; she didn't know where Malfoy Manor was and didn't think Narcissa Malfoy would want an unfamiliar owl bringing her a letter in unfamiliar handwriting. People thought she was Draco Malfoy, even if she knew better. She couldn't use the excuse of curse damage for very long; that excuse would play itself out exceedingly quickly. There was a different volunteer at the front desk, but she already knew where she was going. Her body was in the spell damage ward, and she merely lifted her chin in an imperious manner and walked right there.

No one stopped her. They saw Draco Malfoy walking through the halls as if he had every right to be there, and behaved accordingly. They never would have behaved the same way for Ginny Weasley.

Her head was starting to hurt trying to puzzle it out.

There were Healers in the room next to Draco's-- Ginny's, she had to remind herself. The world didn't think she was Ginny anymore. Of course, she was also assuming that she had been involved in a straight one to one swap, and that it hadn't gotten more convoluted than that. Given the sheer number of people that had been in the shop, anything was possible then. She didn't even want to consider that possibility, however. That would make it too difficult to track down how to get herself back into her own body.

Her body was awake, and was startled as soon as she walked into the room. Ginny shut the door behind her quickly. "What's your name?" she demanded in Draco's haughtiest tones. It was disconcerting to see the frightened look on her own face. "I'm Ginny Weasley."

The frightened look dissolved into mixed confusion and relief. "Thank Merlin. This isn't _me._ You have my body, then. How in bloody hell did it happen?" Draco asked from Ginny's body.

"Some combination of hexes and spells, I think," Ginny replied. She stepped away from the door and sank down into the chair beside Draco's bed. She was grateful for the opportunity to sit; it was taking far too much concentration to walk straight in this body and not merely flop around hitting things because her center of gravity was off. "I couldn't tell you how it happened. It doesn't make any sense, but I haven't started looking for an explanation. I just woke up a little while ago." She ran a hand through her hair in frustration, earning herself a moue of distress from Draco. "What?"

"My Mum must be going out of her mind with worry. Yours was here earlier... I didn't figure out what was going on, so they probably think you're nutters right now, sorry."

Ginny sighed. "Well, if we can just explain it to the healers, perhaps they'll be able to undo it. I mean, it's the spell damage ward..."

"Right. Because this is something that common that Mungo's comes across it," Draco replied dryly. It was odd to hear that level of dry sarcasm in her own voice, and to see her lips twisting into his classic smirk.

A sharp rap on the door from the Healers interrupted Ginny's reply. They came in soon after and seemed surprised to see Ginny there. "Oh. It's time for the physical examination, Miss Weasley..." The head Healer stopped abruptly, not sure what to make of Draco Malfoy standing there.

"There's a bit of a complication," she said without preamble. "You see, that is Ginny Weasley's _body_ lying on the bed. My mind is _here,"_ she said as she pointed to her temple. "Somehow in the mixup at the shop attack, our consciousnesses swapped between bodies."

"That's impossible," the Healer blurted, shaking his head.

"Oh? I can tell you all sorts of things about myself that he can't," she retorted, pointing at her body on the bed. "I can recreate as much of the events as I remember, but I doubt that he can, since he didn't get the same kind of security and operations training that I did. There was such a mess of spells I doubt anyone can really figure out what happened in that shop, but the fact of the matter is that _my_ mind is in _his_ body and I want mine back."

There was stunned silence for a long time, and it did nothing but raise Ginny's irritation levels.

"Congratulations, Weasley," Draco said dryly from the bed, arms crossed beneath her breasts. "You've officially stumped them all to silence. Well done."

Glares in his direction didn't phase him at all and didn't help her feel better in the slightest. Once the Healers recovered from their shock, they were both subjected to endless rounds of diagnostic spells and potions trials, none of which seemed to be of much help. Ginny rapidly grew tired of all the tests and questions, even though she knew how vital it was to see what it _wasn't._ There was no precedent for this in any of the medical texts or histories kept at St. Mungo's. Ginny did note an odd sort of gleam in Draco's eyes, making her wonder if there was some kind of Dark Arts collection that Ministry officials never found when they swept through Malfoy Manor after the War ended.

He didn't outright admit as much afterward, of course, but he did vaguely state that there might be "more appropriate" research areas that the Healers missed. Ginny rolled her eyes at him. "I'm not turning in your family as a collection of Dark wizards, Malfoy," she replied flatly. "I just want to be _me_ again."

"As you have said at least a hundred times," he replied in Ginny's driest tones. Did he speak any other way? Or did it simply sound that way to her ears because the tones he used were much flatter than the ones she did?

"So? What would the Healers have missed?"

"You really have no imagination, Weasley," Draco scoffed. "Those wizards at the shop weren't your standard idiots with a handful of spells from Hogwarts. Some of them acted like hitwizards. So there are quite possibly a lot of darker spells that the average Healer isn't familiar with."

Ginny scowled at him, making him frown at her. "What?"

"Do I really look like that?" he mused. "No wonder Mum hates it when I stare at her with that expression."

Rolling her eyes, Ginny shook her head. "Pansy thought your Mum would go nutters if she didn't hear from you."

"Yes, well. While I was being examined, I asked if I could send her a note saying I was here. They owled it for me. She should be okay." He looked away from her, down at the hospital gown he was still wearing. "No offense, but I don't want to be you for much longer, Weasley."

"None taken, Malfoy," she returned, sitting next to him. She patted his leg reassuringly. "I'm sure we'll figure out how it was done, and then we can reverse it."

There was a low flush across Draco's cheeks as he nodded. "Yeah. Makes sense. I haven't got anything to change into, so..."

"I can't get into my flat," Ginny told him with a sigh. "My wards think I'm you."

"Well, that's a bother." Draco frowned. "I can't walk about with my arse hanging out."

"If it makes you feel any better, it's _my_ arse, so it's fine with me."

Draco merely stared at her amused expression. "This is awkward."

"So glad you noticed, Malfoy," Ginny returned. "If you don't mind, I can always use some of your Galleons to buy clothes that you can change into." Draco looked relieved and nodded. "All right. I'll pop out for a bit and then come back with a few things."

He was smart enough not to comment on her choices when she brought them back, and the two checked out of St. Mungo's. While the Healers didn't want them leaving, there was no reason to stay other than their switched consciousnesses. Physically both were in good health, and there was nothing for the medical staff to treat. Ginny had never been to Malfoy Manor before, so she had to let Draco take her there by side-along Apparition, which always made her feel a little queasy. She looked around the Manor grounds with large eyes, taking in every detail. The albino peacocks startled her, but that at least coincided with her mental picture of an ostentatious manor house for people that habitually looked down on others.

"Don't even start on those," Draco intoned darkly. "Those are my father's, not mine."

"You don't like them?" she asked, eyebrow raised.

"They're more vicious than they look," he replied, which wasn't much of an answer at all. "Just go straight through the hedges and up to the front door as if you owned the place. If your wards didn't recognize that body, that means the Malfoy wards probably will."

"And if they don't?"

"I'm here. I'll tell you everything you need to do to get in properly and invite me in."

"Like a bloody vampire," Ginny muttered.

"Keeps everyone else out and our family safe," he challenged. "That's more important."

Ginny was surprised to hear the core of steel in his voice -- her voice -- and to realize that they at least valued the same thing. Honestly, prior to this little accident, she hadn't thought very much of Draco or the Malfoy family. Perhaps she had to revisit her idea of what they were like.

Entering Malfoy Manor proved to be fairly easy with the two of them together; the wards recognized Draco's physical body and accepted the words that Ginny parroted in his voice. His parents were out at a social function for the day, so there was no need for Ginny to engage in any awkward conversation with the two of them. The two of them went straight to one of the smaller library rooms in the manor and began poring over books. Most of them were old and involved various magical theories that Ginny had never heard of. That made it a little more difficult for her to wade through the esoteric terms and archaic wording, but she did manage it. It was slow going, which was frustrating and made her groan when she saw how little of the library that they had gone through.

"You can stay here, if you like," Draco told her quietly. "I mean, I know that you'd probably like your own flat, but it's not equipped for that body, is it?"

"You don't have things here for my body."

"No, but one of the house elves could get new things for me, so it's not as great a hardship." Draco was very matter of fact about it, and Ginny had to remind herself that he had always grown up with house elves and the expectation that things would simply get done. He didn't mean anything derogatory by it and didn't know any different. She never would have considered house elves because she never grew up with one. He had, so it was one of the first things he thought about.

"So I'd be in your room here?"

"I suppose," Draco said, shrugging. "I'd only just thought of this."

That didn't sound like the truth, more like hedging it, but Ginny had to accept it at face value for the moment. "Where would you sleep?"

"There are plenty of rooms about. I'll find something."

"Pansy might worry."

"Pansy generally doesn't," Draco replied, shaking his head. "I suspect she'd just use the opportunity to invite Leanne over and shag in every room of the flat."

Ginny was surprised at the bitterness lacing his tone. "Were the two of you an item?" It certainly hadn't felt that way when she had woken up in the flat. If anything, it had contained a very cold and impersonal air, as if nothing of Draco's personality was in the flat outside of his bedroom.

"Briefly. Off and on," Draco admitted after a while. "It doesn't work out every time we try, but it doesn't stop us from trying when nothing else better comes along." He abruptly compressed his lips shut, looking uncomfortable. "We should keep looking for something in these books. Some kind of spell or charm. Something to get things back to normal."

She had the feeling he was hiding his emotions from her, as if protecting himself from something. She wondered if perhaps he really didn't have anyone to talk to about things, that he generally kept things locked up. It was likely that he had never before even hinted that he was discomfited by anything.

Understanding the feeling completely, Ginny reached across the desk impulsively and took hold of Draco's hand. He was visibly startled by the friendly squeeze of support she gave him, and simply stared at the smile she flashed him. "You'll be okay, Draco. We both will. We'll figure it out."

He was utterly nonplused, and could only weakly nod his assent. Afterward, they continued reading in silence.

***

Unable to sleep, Ginny prowled the halls of Malfoy Manor. The rooms were too large, too quiet, too... _not hers._ She had gotten better about controlling this body, as awkward and gangling as it felt at times. She wasn't crashing into furniture the way she had at Draco's flat, at least. She saw her familiar shade of red in the library, and headed inside. "Can't sleep?" she asked sympathetically. Draco looked up from the desk with a startled glance. "I can't, either. The Slytherin pennants in your old room keep staring and hissing at me."

He accepted the teasing with a small smile. "It's... This is my home, but it doesn't feel like mine. Everything feels wrong somehow, like those last times..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head. "No, never mind. It's not a big deal. I couldn't sleep, so I figured I might as well go through some more books."

Ginny nodded and looked over the pile in front of her body. She could see the tired circles beneath the brown eyes, and opened her mouth to say "Budge over, I'll help," before she knew she was going to offer her time.

They went through text after text in companionable silence, occasionally taking notes on parchment for spells that might be worth trying when they weren't as tired. Ginny was fascinated by the scope of the Malfoy library, even if she had never been as involved in studying as other students had been in school. She had her interests for work or what she found personally fascinating, but otherwise wasn't as involved. There was an odd array of topics in the Malfoy library, as well as varying ages and conditions for the texts. It appeared that the library had been something that different generations of Malfoys had contributed to, and Ginny supposed that it was the reason why it was such an eclectic collection.

Over the next several days, Ginny and Draco collected a lot of spells and rituals through their research that could be applicable. They looked over the requirements for the various spells and rituals that they might need to use. Some of the older spells required esoteric ingredients for the ritual, so they had to rule out those. Newer spells might not be as effective, but at least they could be attempted.

Because some spells required an outside caster, Draco recruited his friend Gregory Goyle. He was different from the school bully that Ginny remembered; the War and life as a single father to twin boys had blunted the crueler edges he once had cultivated. He didn't laugh at their predicament and simply followed the directions that Draco gave him. Narcissa Malfoy enjoyed playing with the boys while Goyle helped; she didn't know anything about curses or spellcraft and simply wanted her son to be returned to his natural state. Ginny didn't blame her one bit, as the conversations they had in the interim were awkward in the extreme. Dealing with her own family had been even more awkward, and she nearly threatened to hex Ron with a nasty jinx just to get him to stop poking her arm.

Regardless of what they tried, nothing worked. Ginny's mind remained in Draco's body and vice versa. They were getting more and more agitated as each attempt failed. "I don't understand what's going wrong!" he cried.

"There's got to be something else," Ginny remarked as she went over her notes. "The older spells talk about merging bodies and souls." She looked up in concern. "When it all happened, we'd fallen on top of each other. Do you think we need to be touching in some way?"

Draco scowled as he considered her words. "It's worth a shot," he admitted grudgingly.

They tried the rituals again, this time keeping at least a hand on each other. If Goyle was casting the spell, Draco laid on top of Ginny, that low flush along his cheeks again. His breathing was a bit heavier, and Ginny could feel her -- Draco's -- body reacting to the press of his -- Ginny's -- body against hers. Draco made a startled sound, shifting slightly. This wedged a thigh between hers, and it rubbed against the burgeoning erection forming. "Don't move," Ginny whispered hoarsely. Draco froze in place, understanding instantly what happened.

In the weeks they had been in close contact, Ginny had explored this body. It was hard not to indulge in curiosity, especially since there was no way for anyone to really know that she was wanking in the shower. It was different from wanking as a woman, and Ginny simply assumed that Draco was doing the same in her body.

The ritual didn't work, and that only added to the frustration that they both felt.

"Do you think we need to spend _more_ time together?" Ginny asked quietly. "Maybe it's got to be literal skin to skin..."

Draco was pale. "Wait. We didn't try that. What if that's why these spells didn't work?"

"Shit. I don't want Goyle seeing my naked body!" Ginny exclaimed. "It's bad enough that you do!"

"Why? It's bloody gorgeous!"

Ginny blinked. "What did you say?"

Draco turned away. "Never mind."

She stared at him for a long moment, then decided to let the remark pass. She did think his physique was rather fit, even if she hadn't told him so. "We might have to share a room, then," she began slowly. "But nothing's going to happen, hear me?"

"Yeah," Draco replied. "I hear you."

As much as Ginny wanted to deny it, lying in bed with Draco later felt comfortable. She slept easily with him by her side, and the next morning she woke in a tangle of limbs with an erection. She closed her eyes and willed it to go away before Draco felt it. He didn't seem to be awake, so that helped. He was still at least half asleep and curled around her, head comfortably settled on her chest. It was rather nice to sleep this way, actually, and the silence was calming for her overall. She ran her fingers through the red hair and stroked his back gently. The enforced time together had given them a lot of opportunity to talk as well as research, and Ginny rather liked what she knew about him.

Draco woke slowly and was startled at the way their limbs were tangled together. He pushed the red hair out of his eyes and looked at her with an expression that was halfway between alarm and hopefulness. "We're still swapped. We didn't switch back."

"No. We're going to have to keep researching what else to do."

He nodded slowly, thoughtfully. "It's... not as bad as I thought it would be, you know?"

"Yeah, you're not a pillock after all," Ginny teased.

He rolled his eyes at her and rolled off of her chest. "And you're not a mindless bint chasing after someone with no personality. So there's hope for the outside world after all."

Ginny managed not to give him an undignified reply, and got up out of bed. "I suppose it's more research, then? I was hoping it was something that would fade over time. Everyone else that had spell damage from the shop is back to their normal lives now."

Draco got up as well, and Ginny was almost sorry that they would have to go about their day. Even if they managed to talk about other things, the main press of their thoughts had to do with reversing the spell damage inflicted on them. She rather liked not having the stress of her usual work day or dealing with the outside world. It made getting to know someone that much easier.

Goyle stopped by after lunch and found the both of them poring over their notes and the various texts. They didn't explain that they had tried actual skin to skin contact that morning, which had done nothing but increase the tension between them. Ginny was left wondering what it would be like to have sex as a man and Draco couldn't meet her eyes at all through lunch. He had gone off to speak with his mother about family concerns, and Ginny was grateful to be left alone in the massive house. Goyle was completely oblivious to the increased tension between the two of them. "Oi. Seems like the same stack of books on the desk there," he commented, looking over at Ginny. "Dr-- Oh. Right. Sorry. I keep forgetting you're not really Draco in there." He sat down next to her and looked at the top book out of curiosity, not noticing the irritation crossing her features. "Too bad all the simple cures didn't work for the two of you. I try teaching my boys spells, you know, so they'll do better in school."

Ginny suppressed a nasty comment and tried to paste a smile on her face. This was one of Draco's friends, after all. "Oh?"

"Yeah. Their mum was a sharper one, bless her. She would've been better teaching them letters and spells and such, but the village school is good. So I've done spellwork with the boys, and the first thing I told them was to get very good at Finite Incantem." He laughed a little, and the smile actually transformed his face. He was still rather plain looking, but he was much friendlier in appearance. "You know how kids can get, yeah? Doing all sorts of stupid shite. So we practiced on rocks in the garden, and they're good at that. I know they don't have their own wands yet, nothing like that, but they take turns with their mum's and with mine, and they look like they're going to have their mum's brains." Goyle was so very proud of his sons' progress. "They'll do better in school than I did, that's for certain."

"That's really good for them," she said politely, not sure what else to say. "I can see how much you love them."

"They're good boys, they are," Goyle said, chest puffed a little with a parent's pride. He looked up as Draco entered the library to work on his stack of esoteric books. "I was just telling the other you that it's too bad the simple spells like Finite Incantem didn't do anything to help."

"What are you talking about?" Draco asked, voice harsh and almost angry. "You think you know something we don't?"

Goyle got up abruptly. "I haven't got the book learning to help you, Draco, I know that. I'm helping however I can. No need to be that way, mate."

Draco ran a hand through his hair, nearly growling in frustration when he wound up tugging on the ends of Ginny's red tresses. "This just needs to _end."_ He didn't quite apologize to Goyle and couldn't make eye contact. "I want things back to normal."

"I'll collect my boys and be on my way," Goyle replied, voice even and cool. Ginny felt sorry for him suddenly; he had tried his best to help, and Draco kept taking out his frustration on him.

"Thank you," Ginny told him quietly. Goyle shot her a grateful look, then left to find Narcissa Malfoy. Scowling at Draco as he flounced into the room and nearly threw himself into a chaise, Ginny shut the book she had been attempting to look at with an irritated bang. "You could be nicer to him, Draco. He's _your_ friend."

"We all know he's not exactly the most brilliant student," Draco scoffed. "Can you imagine? Saying that a bloody simple Finite Incantem might undo this mess. It's been almost two months..."

"We never tried it," Ginny replied after a moment. With all of the testing and research that we've done, we never actually tried it."

"Because it _can't_ be that simple."

"Why not?" Ginny countered. "It's not as if we know what had happened to us that day."

Draco opened his mouth, intending to speak, but wound up shutting it. He opened and shut it a few more times, trying to find a witty enough retort to fire back. "Someone would have tried that at Mungo's."

"I wasn't there when you were," Ginny pointed out. "And we never tried."

"Goyle is _not_ smarter than all the Healers at Mungo's!"

"And he's not very clever at anything," Ginny began slowly. "But that means he would think of the basics, the things that he does know. The Healers might have thought this was so complicated that they never stopped to think about the basic ways to stop spell damage."

Draco scowled at her. "That's absurd."

"But what if it's _true?"_ Ginny paused for effect, suddenly beginning to hope that the solution they had missed truly was a simple one. "What if it really was a question of ending the original spells? No one said anything like that over me, and as far as I know, no one had done wthat for you. What if all we had to do was simply tell these spells to _end,_ and then it would all snap back to normal."

"That only happens in children's tales," he scoffed, crossing his arms.

"In case you haven't noticed, children's tales _always_ talk about botched magic having simple ways to be fixed. And it happens often enough in real life that children accept that part of the tales as true."

"This is ridiculous, Weasley," Draco said, resorting to her last name. He only did that if he was irritated with her. "You're not some kind of idiot child. You can actually reason and think, which is more than what Goyle is capable of most of the time."

"He's your _friend,_ Draco!" Ginny cried, throwing up her hands in frustration. "There's no need to be cruel when he was trying to help you."

He made an irritated sound and plopped down on an armchair in an ungainly heap. She didn't think he would have done that if his mother was around, because she had insisted on proper decorum from them both in the time Ginny had been living in Malfoy Manor. "I know, I know. I do. Really. But this is just so frustrating."

"So why don't we try it?" she asked reasonably. "What have we got to lose?"

"Our dignity?" he snarked in reply.

Ginny snorted. "I think we lost that long ago."

"Speak for yourself, Ginevra," he scoffed. "I'm a Malfoy. I'm always dignified."

"You're a Malfoy in a Weasley's body," she reminded him.

Draco blinked. "That... That sounded terribly naughty," he said slowly, staring at her. "Don't tell me you think about that."

Thankfully, Ginny was no longer a pale redhead that flushed to the roots of her hair. She merely stared at him with a cool expression. "I don't think about molesting my own body, no."

"I wasn't talking about molesting," Draco protested, sitting up straight. "But I mean... You and me. Together, and not just because we have to."

Ginny got up and sat next to Draco. "Technically, we don't have to now."

"There's no other way to figure this out," he said, the excuse sounding almost feeble to Ginny's ears.

Impulsively, she leaned forward and kissed him.

The kiss wasn't that much different from what she thought it might be like, even if she was in a different body from the one she was used to. By now she was able to absorb the responses from this particular body, and she could feel the softness of the lips beneath her own and hear the startled gasp of surprise. She let him pull away from her, watching that low flush in his cheeks. She was still in Draco's body, and he seemed to embarrassed to look her in the eye.

"Well. That worked in children's stories and not here," she said, making him turn to look at her in shock. She grinned at him. "Though we could always do it again just to be sure."

Draco let out a startled bark of laughter before suppressing it. "You still want to do this mad idea? Shouting a simple first year's spell at each other?"

"What could it hurt?"

They hit each other with the Finite Incantem spell simultaneously. Ginny had the sensation of flying across the room and hitting her head on a bookcase, arms and legs falling down in a tangle of limbs that felt uncoordinated and somehow small. She groaned, though her voice didn't quite sound the same. There was an answering groan some distance away from her, then the sound of an armchair falling over.

When she opened her eyes, she saw red hair in front of her face.

It took a few tries to get her legs back under her, but she was back in her own body. Her limbs were shorter, her body rounder and her voice a higher register. "Draco," she said, her voice shaky with relief. "I think it worked."

Draco had fallen over the armchair he had been sitting in using Ginny's body. He seemed to be having just as much trouble getting his limbs under control as she was, which made her feel a little bit better. If he was instantly graceful, she would have smacked him. "Yeah," he said, eyes wide and expression helpless. "It did."

Ginny managed to stumble back toward him, though she wound up collapsing right on top of him. "This is still going to be awkward, isn't it?" she asked, voice a little breathy. She could feel that flush in her cheeks again. Stupid pale skin.

"I suppose. There's a lot to get used to," he said, voice slightly wary.

Oh, sod it all. Ginny leaned forward and kissed him again. It still felt the same, the gentle press of lips beneath hers, surprise and desire all mixed up together. She pulled back slowly, giving him a lazy smile. "I'm still me and you're still you. So this doesn't reverse the effect."

Draco suddenly looked at her in relief, smiling himself. "Are you sure? We may have to try that again, just to be sure."

"There might be a lot of testing to do."

"I'm counting on it," he murmured, reaching forward to bring her down for another kiss.

They could tell everyone they had switched back later. For now, this was all they needed.

 

The End


End file.
